[microformats-discuss] Dublin Core in practice (was: Video Pop-up Link Maker)

[Mark Rickerby]

>
> The statement stands (*emphasis* added):
>
>   Dublin Core is more theory than practice on the *Web*.
>
> If you disagree, please provide a good sampling of *actual* *http* URLs
> which clearly illustrate use of Dublin Core, preferably with *visible* data
> (rather than invisible metadata).

I'm not sure these examples prove otherwise, but DC is used in meta
tags on some prominent websites:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/OrthogonalSubspaces.html
http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/EuropeanDiscoveryOfNewZealand/en

I have never seen an example of visible data on the web that uses DC,
however I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing - it's just a
way of attaching a library card like index to each page.

The practice seems to be just putting meta tags into the document and
throwing it out on the web. Unless a site is directly involved with
some kind of structured search/cataloging project based on Dublin
Core, the chances that this invisible metadata will every be used for
anything are pretty slim. ("pissing into the wind" would be the
colloquial term ;)

In New Zealand (and Australia?), Dublin Core is heavily used by public
institutions. One of the things they're doing is sharing data between
many of the major libraries, public art galleries, and museums in a
single searchable collection (http://matapihi.org.nz) - I don't know
if this counts for being the 'Web', but it's being transported over
the web.

Regards,
Mark